Muppets get re-release, “Sky High” soars

When it came out in 1979, “The Muppet Movie” continued the magic the TV show had created. It was a lot of fun, with a lot of great songs, with the opening number “Rainbow Connection” being nominated for that year’s Best Song Academy Award.

I personally enjoyed the duet between Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog (“I Hope That Something Better Comes Along”) so much that I bought the soundtrack. And I was 15 at the time!

Disney bought the rights to the Muppets and all their properties a few years ago, so they are releasing “Anniversary Editions” of four of the Muppet films to coincide with Kermit’s 50th birthday. “The Muppet Movie,” “The Great Muppet Caper,” “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” and “Muppet Treasure Island.”

Each one offers the viewer the choice of full-or-widescreen versions, and offers a short “Pepe Profiles Presents” feature, interviewing Kermit, Miss Piggy, Gonzo and Fozzie Bear. The profiles are fine, but I don’t care for the interviewer. Pepe the Prawn is too weird, even for a Muppet. Besides, Billy Crystal did the “Fernando Lamas” imitation much better.

“Muppet Caper” is the only one that offers any other extras: a commentary track with director Brian Henson (son of the late Jim Henson), a “Christmas Around the World” featurette, and a gag reel with outtakes and bloopers.

These four are only worth investing in if you don’t already have them or want the widescreen versions. And somebody please tell Disney that you don’t need to drown us in 15 minutes of promos and commercials before the main menus start! I know, you can hit the “Menu” button, but I personally would prefer a button on the main menu that gives me the option to see them only if I want to.

Coming out the same day is this past summer’s “Sky High,” a live-action “Incredibles” meets “Harry Potter.” Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is the son of superheroes Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston).

It’s Will’s first day at Sky High, a high school that teaches young would-be superheroes how to use their powers. There are some marvelous ideas for satire here, but this is a Disney flick, so it’s toned down considerably. There’s plenty of violence, but it’s of the cartoonish variety where the attacked person gets up and dusts himself off, or gets his/her comeuppance by getting stuck in the wall.

For the baby boomers that grew up watching Russell in various Disney teenager movies (i.e.: “The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes”), “Sky High” is likely to be somewhat painful, because now Russell is playing the giddy father instead of the precocious kid. Younger kids aren’t likely to pick up on the irony, but Lynda Carter (“Wonder Woman”) plays the school principal.

Extras include a blooper reel, an alternate opening where Will’s parents first meet during a battle, and a music video of Bowling for Soup performing the old Modern English hit “I Melt With You.”

There’s also two “Backstage Disney” segments: “Welcome to Sky High” shows the kids clowning around on set, doing homework and gearing up for the stunt sequences. “Breaking Down the Walls: The Stunts of Sky High” is the most interesting extra for the technophiles; it shows a computer-controlled harness rig that simultaneously coordinates the harnesses pulling the stunt performers through their paces and the cameras recording the action.

“Sky High” is a good family DVD for the 8-12 set; the ones who still dream of someday acquiring super powers. Older kids will probably sneer at the simple plot and situations the movie brings up. They’ve seen it before.